10/26/09

There have been a lot of activity at the Help Desk recently, as NOVA reviews users for completion of MOAT training. Managed Ongoing Awareness and Trust (MOAT) training covers materials related to IT security risks. The completion of the training programs are tracked and documented so administrators can generate reports on completion. NOVA policy requires annual security training for faculty and staff users. The NOVA policy was put in place to create alignment with requirements endorsed by the Virginia General Assembly.

When a user is required to renew their security training certificate, they will receive a notification from Awareity, which manages the MOAT training program for many Commonwealth of Virginia institutions.

If you have any issues concerning MOAT training, the IT Helpdesk is prepared to assist with any issues.

10/19/09

This is a response to an inquiry concerning the utilization of Smartphones to access NVCC systems. First, we would like thank our users for comments. Second, currently, the only approved smartphone access to the email system at this time is the Apple iPhone and the Apple iPod. Instructions on how to connect these devices are actually posted on the NVCC IT Helpdesk website. The link for the connection instructions are posted at http://www.nvcc.edu/ithd/faculty/working-remotely/iphone-nvcc-webmail-1.pdf We have reason to believe this situation will change very soon, and please check the above link frequently for updated information. NVCC will publish additional conectivity instructions as soon as they are available.

10/14/09

We have been getting calls from some students unable to access the Video on Demand files. We have found that all of them are on the Verizon Fios network. By having a student remove their laptop from the Fios network and playing the videos on the same laptop on campus we have confirmed that the issue lies with Fios and the settings on their router/modem.

Fios users unable to play our video files. Fios users need to contact Fios and have them change the settings on their router/firewall to allow for the MMS protocol.All of our VOD files use MMS.

Here is the info regarding MMS that can be forwarded to students needing the information:Microsoft Media Services( MMS )

The MMS protocol is designed specifically for serving multimedia presentations. Although it is not standards-based, you can use it to broadcast live or on-demand Windows Media clips to Windows Media Player. MMS uses TCP for player control messages, and UDP for video and audio data. MMS can also use TCP to deliver data, but this is not recommended.MMS (Microsoft Windows Media) uses port 1755, when this port is used it makes the traffic faster because it is using pure MMS technology and has no HTTP overhead. MMS also works on port 80 but is slower because it is using http pragma command extensions. MMS uses Windows Media Player client to access steaming media resources. MMS is the ‘carrier’ of ASF (Advanced Streaming Format) Microsoft’s ® propriety streaming protocol. Its prime use is to carry live or pre-recorded multi media broadcasts, archived videos, sound tracks and live shows over the internet. MMS operates on top of UDP or TCP transport protocols, they are transport/network level, where as MMS exists and operates at the application level.